


The Road by the Ocean

by Earthsbestdefender



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-18 14:49:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18701779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Earthsbestdefender/pseuds/Earthsbestdefender
Summary: Two souls on a beach. One thinks she should stay. The other thinks maybe he shouldn't be there, but they are in it together. What ever path the beach takes them on.





	The Road by the Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to war you right off the bat: I am completely winging this, and it'll probably get super meta. So buckle up and enjoy the ride!  
> (first chapter will be calm)

Pepper had told him it was okay for him to rest. He had no choice but to believe her, so with her hand clasped in his, Tony's world faded to black and he rested.

For the first time in a long time he really rested.

And when he woke up he was somewhere very far away from where he had been. 

A cool ocean wave lapped against his hand. Tony sat up. This was different. 

He blinked his eyes and sat up. The sun hung in a beautiful clear sky above. It wasn't burning hot, just calm and warm. Peaceful. Peaceful just like the waves lapping calmly over his legs. It was like nothing he had felt before. The sand around him was so white, and the water was so blue, lovely crystal blue, and the air was cleaner than anything he had ever breathed. Tony had been to every beach on the planet, but none of them were quite like this one. It was quite literally perfect in every way.

Tony pushed himself to his feet. The long white beach spanned beautifully out in front him. The waves beating naturally against the white sand. Wind from the water ruffled Tony's hair as it embraced him in warm comfort. Tony let a smile slip across his face. He didn't know where this place was, but he knew it was safe and he knew it was where he should be.

Tony wasn't sure what he was supposed to do here, so he decided he would take a walk on the very inviting beach.

His bare feet sank into the soft sand as he walked along the water's edge just close enough for the water to lap against his feet. He still had no idea where he was walking to, but he wasn't in the least bit tired so he kept at it. The woods off to his left looked tempting to explore, so full of flowers and green. Lovely bird song from creatures he had never heard before resonated in the sea tossed air. Tony decided to avoid the woods and pluck along his same path along the ocean.

Tony took his gaze away from the endless stretch of beach and turned it down to his feet. The way the waves pushed over his feet, and the way the sand squished around was oddly mesmerizing.

"So what are you in for?"

Tony jerked his head up in surprise. His gaze rested on Natasha standing at the edge of the woods leaned against the smooth bark. Her long red hair danced a little around her face in the ocean breeze.

Tony stopped walking.

"...not sure," was all he could think to say.

A smile flitted across her face.

"I hate to see you here Tony."

Tony felt the corner of his own mouth curl up.

"Likewise."

Natasha chuckled and stood up straight, throwing her hair out of her face. 

"Did we win at least?"

Tony sighed and turned and stared out across the never ending sea.

"I think so yeah," He hesitated as he remembered Pepper's words, "I think we did… Pepper said they were- she said I could rest now."

Tony didn't direct his words to Nat. They were really aimed more toward himself. She had said he could rest. He was pretty sure this was his rest.

A hand slipped into Tony's.

"I'm sorry Tony," Natasha whispered and rubbed his shoulder.

"Yeah huh," Tony snorted and stared out across the water. He wondered if he could swim back. He wasn't sure if he wanted to rest. Life had been long and hard, but it had also been beautiful. His family had been beautiful, "I don't recon there is a way back?"

"If I knew that's where I'd point you."

Tony tilted his head a little.

"That's where you'd point me? You wouldn't? You know?" Tony wasn't even sure how to word his confusion.

"Go back?"

Tony nodded.

"I really don't know. This place is nice."

Tony frowned. It was very nice.

“But you don’t think I should be here?” Tony asked; he could tell by Nat’s expression that she was content here. She was taking a well deserved rest.

“I really am very sorry Tony,” Natasha’s green eyes were twinkling with welling tears, “We should have left you out of it-”

“Don’t do that,” Tony waved off her apology.

“Do what? Apologize? Tony we- I got you killed! You were out. You were happy and we pulled you back in. We tore you away from your family!” Tony turned away from her as she almost shouted her response, “So don’t tell me not to apologize! This was my fault!”

Agitated Tony spun around and grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Listen to me Romanov,” His voice was more of a growl than he meant it to be, “I made my choice. No one told me to put on that gauntlet. No one told me to snap my fingers. No one made me come back. No one quote unquote dragged me back. I chose this. I chose this path. I made my choice, and I did it for my family and everyone. Don’t try to blame yourself for whatever this is. I knew exactly how this was going to end from the first time I blasted a repulsor beam. I was never going to retire and stay that way I knew that.”

Natasha nodded slowly, tears beginning to fall.

Tony released her and sank to the sandy ground. Pepper had said they would be okay. He had no choice but to believe her. He sighed and buried his face in his hands. He didn’t mean to start crying, but he did. Natasha’s warm strong arm wrapped around his shoulders. Tony leaned into her comfort.

This was how it was always going to be. He had always known that. Perhaps even as a young boy his path had been laid out for him, so here he would remain with his good friend, and here he would stay and wait until his family came to be with him. He missed them, but he hoped it would be a very long time before they met him on this beach. 

He would have lots of practice making sand castles.

 


End file.
